by Trent Steffes
2/26/2018
This past Saturday, all five MNWA managers met in Woodbury, MN (two via FaceTime) to discuss the upcoming MNWA season. The discussion lasted about an hour, with the bulk of it being allocated to the discussion of the season's scheduling format. But along with that, there were a few things worthy of announcement decided, and I will outline all of the changes here.
1. Extra Innings
In 2017, the format for extra innings was as follows: "If a game gets to 7-innings, both teams shall begin the inning with the bases-loaded. If a game gets to 8-innings, both team shall begin the inning with bases-loaded and 1 out." (1.15 and 1.16) In 2018, both those rules will be abolished. Instead, all regular season games that are still tied after 7-innings will be declared a tie. And all playoff games will be played under normal rules until a winner is determined.
2. Points System
Because of that rule, now the MNWA standings will be determined by points earned by teams. Each team will get 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. To break ties of teams with the same amount of points, the tiebreakers will be: wins, head-to-head record, and run-differential (in that order.)
3. Innings
Starting in 2018, all MNWA games will be 5-innings of regulation, as opposed to 4-innings perviously.
4. Regular Season Trophies
We will be buying a championship belt (similar to the 2014 YouTube championship) and that will act as a traveling trophy throughout the season. The only way to win the belt will be by defeating the current champion. The first champion will be crowned in the first game of the Buxtons' 2018 season. In addition to the belt, teams will be encouraged to create and play for rivalry trophies with other teams, similar to college football.
5. Awards Night
The 2018 Final Tournament will be played on a Saturday in August, and after the conclusion of the tournament, we will be having our first big awards night. We will be bringing back the Donger Derby, playing an actual All-Star game, and then giving out the season's awards. The awards will be voted on by managers on that Saturday morning, to eliminate any influence the Final Tournament would have on the voting.
6. Final Tournament Elibility
In order to be eligible to play in the Final Tournament, a player must have played 6 regular season MNWA games, changing from 5 in 2017.
7. Final Tournament Format
The 2018 Final Tournament will be a 5-team double elimination tournament. The #1 overall seed will be the regular season champion, and they will be allowed to choose their first round opponent from among the 3, 4, and 5 seeds. The two teams not chosen to play the 1 seed will face-off in the first round with the winner advancing to play the #2 seed. The bracket looks like this:
2/26/2018
This past Saturday, all five MNWA managers met in Woodbury, MN (two via FaceTime) to discuss the upcoming MNWA season. The discussion lasted about an hour, with the bulk of it being allocated to the discussion of the season's scheduling format. But along with that, there were a few things worthy of announcement decided, and I will outline all of the changes here.
1. Extra Innings
In 2017, the format for extra innings was as follows: "If a game gets to 7-innings, both teams shall begin the inning with the bases-loaded. If a game gets to 8-innings, both team shall begin the inning with bases-loaded and 1 out." (1.15 and 1.16) In 2018, both those rules will be abolished. Instead, all regular season games that are still tied after 7-innings will be declared a tie. And all playoff games will be played under normal rules until a winner is determined.
2. Points System
Because of that rule, now the MNWA standings will be determined by points earned by teams. Each team will get 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. To break ties of teams with the same amount of points, the tiebreakers will be: wins, head-to-head record, and run-differential (in that order.)
3. Innings
Starting in 2018, all MNWA games will be 5-innings of regulation, as opposed to 4-innings perviously.
4. Regular Season Trophies
We will be buying a championship belt (similar to the 2014 YouTube championship) and that will act as a traveling trophy throughout the season. The only way to win the belt will be by defeating the current champion. The first champion will be crowned in the first game of the Buxtons' 2018 season. In addition to the belt, teams will be encouraged to create and play for rivalry trophies with other teams, similar to college football.
5. Awards Night
The 2018 Final Tournament will be played on a Saturday in August, and after the conclusion of the tournament, we will be having our first big awards night. We will be bringing back the Donger Derby, playing an actual All-Star game, and then giving out the season's awards. The awards will be voted on by managers on that Saturday morning, to eliminate any influence the Final Tournament would have on the voting.
6. Final Tournament Elibility
In order to be eligible to play in the Final Tournament, a player must have played 6 regular season MNWA games, changing from 5 in 2017.
7. Final Tournament Format
The 2018 Final Tournament will be a 5-team double elimination tournament. The #1 overall seed will be the regular season champion, and they will be allowed to choose their first round opponent from among the 3, 4, and 5 seeds. The two teams not chosen to play the 1 seed will face-off in the first round with the winner advancing to play the #2 seed. The bracket looks like this:
8. Season Schedule
For the 2018 season, we will be using a "hybrid" schedule for 12 games per team, each team playing each other three times total. In the past, we've had "tournaments" in which all the MNWA teams meet up and play games against one another. We used to have 2-4 of those per year. This year, what we are going to do is hold one "tournament" in June/July where each team will play 5-6 games. The rest of the team's schedule will be up to the managers to schedule. Whether they schedule for a weekday or weekend is up to them and their players. This way, we can give more responsibility to the managers to tailor their schedule to the needs of their own team, but also have the league-wide events we all like.
For the 2018 season, we will be using a "hybrid" schedule for 12 games per team, each team playing each other three times total. In the past, we've had "tournaments" in which all the MNWA teams meet up and play games against one another. We used to have 2-4 of those per year. This year, what we are going to do is hold one "tournament" in June/July where each team will play 5-6 games. The rest of the team's schedule will be up to the managers to schedule. Whether they schedule for a weekday or weekend is up to them and their players. This way, we can give more responsibility to the managers to tailor their schedule to the needs of their own team, but also have the league-wide events we all like.